"For every stimulus measure, there was an off-setting leakage somewhere else."

On the other hand, King does suggest one way in which the UK is significantly different to Japan and explains why it is still seeing inflation when most other developed countries are still fighting deflation.

He says that the UK has been saved by its ‘benign neglect' of sterling, adding: "As a mechanism to avoid a Japan-style deflation, sterling's earlier decline has been rather too successful.

"But unless sterling carries on falling or, instead, the public's price expectations become dislodged, it's doubtful that higher inflation will be around for very long."

The yen remained stubbornly strong throughout Japanese lost decades. This point is also made here, in a Business Week article, by former MPC member Adam Posen.

Although this is in the UK's and Europe's favour, it could be bad news for the US, which has seen its currency remain stubbornly strong.

Nevertheless, overall debt is undoubtedly far higher in Japan, even if its budget deficit is lower.

Overall public debt is approximately twice the size of the economy. It is possible to interrogate economic data from the IMF here to do a comparison.

The figures from the International Monetary Fund shows Japanese 2010 gross government debt at 227% of GDP. The equivalent figure for the UK is 72%, for the US 66% and for Germany 69%.

Japan has never committed to any debt management programme and political intransigence has kept the private sector relatively inefficient.

Credit agencies have finally begun to warn of downgrades for the nation, as reported on Reuters.

The UK has already announced painful cuts to public spending and has managed to keep the credit agencies at bay. But The FT reports that there is still a 'material risk' of the UK losing its prized trip A rating.

Japan is different, but it doesn't mean that developed nations are not vulnerable to a deflationary spiral. Indeed, Ben Bernanke's gloomy prognosis on the US economy seems to make that more likely, as reported here on the BBC site.

But as with the bogeyman, as a symbol of an economic horror-story, Japan can be over-used.